Driven to Hope
by IllegalMedications
Summary: Giles/Buffy Giles seems to believe he's the only one in his right mind while Buffy goes off into an on and off tantrum. Feuds explode between them, and the slayer has to gather herself to make up for her troubled mind. R&R!


Chapter 1 of my Giles/Buffy fic. C: R&R, please!

[[I do not own any of these characters, obviously.

Series is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.]]

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**Chapter 1: Hesitant**

"Buffy, you don't seem to understand what I'm going through, do you?" The uptight librarian asked as he slipped away into a row of books, grabbing whatever seemed relevant to his own conversation within his head.

"Strange...I always saw myself saying that to you...not the other way round...," the hyperactive blonde spurted out, chomping down on a little biscuit as she flipped through pages. "I have to get out of my way about everyday just for you-"

"Just for everyone."

The two locked eyes, and Buffy was chewing on her biscuit even quicker. "Fine- just for everyone....oh, wait," the girl brushed her hair with her hands she quickly took her back words. If she were to finish that story, Giles would have given her a long earned lecture about her responsibilities. Oh no, not anymore of those. If she were to hear another word coming out of his mouth about being the Slayer, she would end up drowning herself.

"Mhm...I see you can't continue?"

"I don't want to, more like it. Because, you know, you catch my drift," Buffy snapped, gobbling down the rest of her food before taking a quick whiz of water. "I-it's like you don't know me at all, Giles," she complained, rubbing her stomach as she folded her feet across the table, tipping back slightly as he gave her a disapproving look. Better get the feet of the table, and yet... "I feel so abandoned...by my own Watcher. You should feel ashamed, mister."

"Cute," Giles snorted weakly, rimming the bridge of his nose as he read an article in the newspapers. "Buffy, may you..."

Clank.

"Feet off the table, Mr. Giles!" She yelled, saluting like a soilder as she grabbed another biscuit, fiddling with it in the air as she hugged a book carefully into her stomach. She didn't want the man to get a swelled head with his oh so precious books. "Don't you worry your pretty little head, I'm taking real good care of your babies."

"Hilarious..."

The air circulating in the room dimmed to a heightened to a seer. Probably it was just the awkward silence that fumed up the conditions.

"Mhm...weird...," the girl muttered, surveying the library, biscuit plate all gone with her empty water bottle alongside it.

Giles looked up from his book, looking rather dumbfounded. "Weird?"

"Yeah...," she replied, kicking the soles of her shoes along the marble floors. "Weird that...you know, the atmosphere...it's just weird. Gives me the willies. Say something. Get someone. You know what, I'll get someone. Two someones, actually."

"I can't possibly imagine whoever you mean," the librarian whispered calmly under his breath as he heard her footsteps trail out, followed by a slight slap against the doors. The room was peaceful for once, tranquil at the least.

"B-Buffy! How could you?!"

A scream ringed through Giles' ears, now as he sat on the chair fussing over his hair, he mumbled a few words to himself.

"How could you not finish your History homework? She said she would count it as a project grade...last grade of the year, Buffy. The absolute last!" Willow questioned, playing interrogator as she walked slowly behind the blonde. "I mean, this could make you or break you. What would your mother say? How will you live with yourself all summer just looking at that report card with the huge, nasty-"

"Willow, I don't have time for this overdramatic-ism moment," Buffy began, all of a sudden worrying over a task that had not been mentioned earlier. Giles would have been more then happy to help, of course, if he was free, which he was at the moment. "Could you just help me? We have class in about half an hour...do you think I can finish?"

"With me by your side, well, of course!" Willow triumphantly added, turning to face Xander who was a bit too busy chewing on a piece of toast. It was mid-afternoon and seeing him eating a breakfast food almost made Buffy yearn for the morning once more. She was quite eager for something to happen, though she could could put her finger on it just yet. "Now, we're doing it on The Opium War, so that's really easy. Tons of articles on it, in fact, I have some in my bag right now. I'll go ahead and bried you up on your own summary."

The slayer took a deep sigh of relief, settling herself back onto the chair, flipping her pen out of her bag and ready to write down about anything her friend would come up with. "You're a life saver, Willow. Did I mention how much I love you?" She ashed, smiling weakly as Willow began to summarize her third paragraph for her.

"I know- I get that a lot, Buffy," she replied, returning her half grin with a perky cheer. "Now, let's move on...mhm...well, how about you say 'The Chinese were enraged with Europe's selfishness...something along those lines."

About thirty minutes had passed by, and Buffy printed her last picture, cut it out and slabbed it onto her poster board.

"Woosh! That was quick...my goodness, thanks you guys. Hope it's 'A' work, I would be happy with a 'C', though. Better than I usually get anywho-"

"Don't worry about it, Buff. Willow is a whiz at these kind of stuff. I can't believe you even asked that question. Shame, pure shame on your behalf Miss Summers," Xander quickly interjected, stuffing his right hand in his pocket. "See this? That sentence right there," the boy traced the words on the paper gently, going across until it hit the period, "that's 'A+' work. No- even better, 'A++' work! You know it is, you just do."

Giles took his glasses off, rubbing them into his cloth as he tried scanning it for himself. "Mhm, well, you could expect Willow to make something like that up. I sure hope your teacher thinks you can make sentences like Willow does, though."

The library grew dull for a few seconds, but the teens quickly regained their energy, hyping up as they usually did.

"I'll just say she helped me! I mean, who is stupid enough to copy and suggest something word by word. Give me a break Giles, we're smarter than that," Buffy retorted, hands on her hips after she had rolled the poster up to slip into her bag. "If we were going to do that, might as well write 'Hey, I copied Willow's project' on my forehead. Seriously, get in the program. We're not getting any younger," she added, snapping her fingers over and over again until the librarian grabbed her hands shut.

"I see...I get your point. But, I was merely saying that-"

"It's okay, it's probably all the stress that got to her head," Xander whispered into his ear, receiving a nice elbow to the gut. "Well, you know, I'm usually wrong..so, forget it!"

Buffy rolled her eyes, playfully shrugging the imaginary guilt off her shoulder as she turned to leave. It didn't matter anyway, Giles would end up talking to her until five in the afternoon today ever since her mother had been all uptight on her grades. Ever since summer was nearing, Buffy caught the case of summer fever, not wanting to work but rather talk and what else was on her mind. Vampire slaying was number one, though, and it was not the type of activity she longed for everyday. It was too tiring, especially on days where she had little room to study for her oncoming test.

"Hey, maybe we can call for a study group tomorrow. I made flashcards all ready, so I can let you borrow them until then," Willow asked, trudging behind Buffy as she reached in to grab the deck. "I wrote down about everything you need to know, so if you just look these over, there's no way you'll fail. Take my word for it, okay?"

"Got it. Thanks..you're always there for me my little buddy," the girl replied, putting her head onto her friend's shoulder as they walked down the hallway.

"Hey, hey...I helped," Xander added getting closer to the two.

"Okay...thanks, Xander," Buffy sarcastically replied, patting her friend's back.

"What...? No head resting?"

The two girls faintly snorted, picking up the pace as they entered History class. "Maybe you can get those when you're ready," the slayer went on, finally replying to his question as she put her books down.

"No-no! I'm ready. I've been ready for a pretty long time!" He desperately searched for some mercy in her eyes but came to no avail. She was half serious with her reply, he might strike lucky tomorrow, anyway. It wasn't that big to complain about to begin with. "All right...never mind, I'm beginning to look like a dog."

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Buffy dug her head into her knees as she cuddled into the fetal position on the chair. Struggling in her thoughts, she began to wonder if her mother had forgotten she was with Giles at the library.

"She's not dating again, I swear," she muttered into lopsided whispered to herself, tickling the tip of her nose as hair brushed against it. "I'm going to explode! Adieu, Giles, adieu."

"Don't be ridiculous. Do you want to pass the test or not? Get your head up, now, I don't want your mother coming through the doors wondering why you're resting your head. Now, let's move on, shall we?"

"Shall we not?" Buffy murmured, shaking her head side to side as much as possible in the gap between her knees. "I'm too tired. If I have to study one. More. Science. Term."

The older man merely shook his head, leaning his back against he chair as he put Willow's flashcards down. "I can't run anything through your thick head anymore, can I?" Rupert folded his arms across his chest, only opening his mouth again to take a sufficient amount of air.

Buffy rose her head slowly, not in the brightest of moods. "I already know most of it. Give me a rest, Giles and stop biting my head off."

"I will never do such a thing," the man said snappishly, quite disappointed at her words. She didn't seem to be very responsible anymore, well, at least not like she use to be. it was rather depressing just looking at her gloomy state. "All right, well, I'm sorry," he continued, changing the tone of his voice to ease the both of them. "If you believe you can pass the test, then I won't pressure you into studying more. Is that okay?"

"It really is," she muttered, putting her feet back to the floor, slumping her shoulders slightly, tired from just thinking about her next job to do. "I think I'm going to call my mom, I'll be right back," she went on to the door, the last few words dimming to a low whisper.

Giles fumbled with his papers. Getting a chilly reply was not something he or about anyone else in the world would have enjoyed. Buffy was in a rather bad mood, at least when she was around him, so it was better left unsaid. He didn't want to stir anything uneasy and hard to get out of.

"Giles, drive me home. My mom was all like, "I forgot! I'm so sorry, Buffy! I had to stay late for work, bla, bla bla," she commented out of the darkened silence through the doorway, keeping the right door wide across with her feet. "I still have other things to do, you should know that."

The ride was pretty quiet, awkward like it had usually been the whole day. Giles wasn't quite that comfortable even breathing the same air she did at even a hundred feet away. Her aura was not shedding anything sincere at the moment. It was much preferable to just keep a safe distance before she finally begins to cool down. Pulling up onto the street, the librarian took his hands of the wheel, looking out the window before deciding to say something.

"Buffy, we're here...now, remember, vampir-"

"I know already, Giles."

Another cold silence.

"Well...yes...I see. Just be safe, that's all I wanted to say," he replied, straightening his glasses out before looking out of the barrier separating him from outside once more. "I didn't mean to get you upset...that was the least I was trying to do."

Buffy bit her lower lip, grabbing the door handle, sliding her grip around it as she waited for what else he had to say. Unfortunately, nothing else came out of his mouth. If the guilt train didn't pile up on her back then, it did now, rest assured. Giles was just worried about her and she always snapped back at him with her bitchy attitude. She could finally feel a blanket smother her, and yet, she didn't have much to say.

Leaning over, Buffy rested her head on the librarian's chest. "Sorry, Giles...I was upset before you even met me today," she whispered in a low tone, sliding her head back up. The man only stared, but a cooler expression ran down his face. At least it wasn't as sad as it had been before the awkward silence. The blonde turned around, buckling her set belt off around her, slinging it over her shoulders as she hesitantly walked down to the ground. "Oh, shut the hell up, Buffy," she murmured quietly, biting her lower lip once more.

"Excuse me?" Giles asked, not in the mood for that kind of talk, either.

The girl crept back in the car, giving the man a quick kiss on the cheek, smiling weakly as he turned to face her.

"My head was thinking too much, don't worry. See you tomorrow, Giles!" She squealed happily, skipping off to the front door of her home, smacking her lips as she thought of food. Rupert only shook his head, his face shaded with a light blush as she fixed his tie.

"I just can't understand teenagers anymore..."

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A little slow at the beginning, but I'll pick up the pace.

I didn't want to jump in too quickly while trying to keep their personalities in line.

Anyway, check up for chapter 2. R&R? C:


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